News
VIVA LAS VEGAS
January 8, 2010
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| The past two days, our publisher snapped pics of so-called “CityCenter” in Las Vegas. It’s the most expensive private development in US history, nestled (if that can be a word for 67 acres and 18M SF of development) between the Monte Carlo and Bellagio right on the Strip, where you probably didn’t think they could fit anything else. Those Veer Towers that look like they’re falling over (a deliberate optical effect of course) were designed by Helmut Jahn, who designed NYC’s CitySpire building, among others. |
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| This is part of a 500k-SF retail and entertainment complex called Crystals, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind with interiors by David Rockwell. The whole CityCenter used 77k tons of steel, 1.2M cubic yards of concrete, 30 cranes, 3.7M SF of curtain wall façade, 17k miles of electrical wiring, and the resources of MGM Mirage and Dubai World. (When Dubai World had resources.) |
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| A lot of glass here at the 4,004 room Aria Hotel, where your ever-sacrificing publisher is staying on the 51st floor and constantly having to run down to the casino to get cell phone reception. (Interesting slice of humanity you run into at the gaming tables at 6 AM.) The Aria was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli of Winter Garden fame, and the neighboring Vdara Hotel (a little boutique at just 1,495 rooms, though all suites) by Rafael Vinoly—both sport interiors by BBG-BBGM. There is also the teenie weenie Mandarin Oriental at 392 rooms done by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Do we like it? Well, stunning architecture, but, to be perfectly honest, it’s a bit too 22nd Century sleek for us; we’re still transitioning into the 21st. |
